Itinerary 7/30/2012 - Salzburg, Fussen, Lucerne, Lauterbrunen, Strasbourg, Reims, CDG

Google map: http://g.co/maps/r69gt

Hi everyone, thanks for this forum, it's been immensely fun reading through tons of entries. Here's our planned itinerary and at this point I am thinking that we'll need to cut out one of these stops to make it less rushed... any input would be greatly appreciated.


Sat 7/28/2012 Munich - arrive afternoon from SFO
Sun 7/29/2012 Munich - bike tour / bmw museum
Mon 7/30/2012 Munich - car pick up / factory tour / leave to Fussen
Tue 7/31/2012 Fussen - castles in the morning/noon / leave and drive through klaussen pass, arrive Lauterbrunnen
Wed 8/01/2012 Lauterbrunnen
Thu 8/02/2012 Lauterbrunnen - drive to Lucerene in the PM
Fri 8/03/2012 Lucerne until the afternoon, then drive to Colmar/Strasbourg
Sat 8/04/2012 Colmar/Strasbourg half day, drive to Reims
Sun 8/05/2012 Reims half day, drive to CDG and park car, then to Paris proper. Stay at CDG airport hotel this night.
Mon 8/06/2012 Paris - car dropoff in the morning.
Tue 8/07/2012 Paris
Wed 8/08/2012 Paris and flight out to Spain. Stay until 8/15 in Spain (free hotel stays, this is the only non-negotiable portion of the trip :P)

EDITs: Salzburg dropped due to Music Festival, added stay at CDG airport for car dropoff in morning.

IMHO, Austria is not that great, take the time and visit Neuschwanstein.

Originally Posted by Blauanzug

IMHO, Austria is not that great, take the time and visit Neuschwanstein.

Actually, Austria is great. But that is not the issue...

The Salzburg Music Festival starts 20 July. The city will be overrun, including all the good spots to eat. To be clear: DON'T DO THIS.

Thanks for the heads up b-y. I will probably drop Salzburg. Looks like the only option getting around dropping the car off on a weekday would be to turn her in Friday in Zurich then go by train to Paris... only 5 days with my car though

Originally Posted by zeezz

Sat 7/28/2012 Munich - arrive afternoon from SFO
Sun 7/29/2012 Munich - bmw museum, city
Mon 7/30/2012 Munich - car pick up / factory tour / leave to Salzburg
Tue 7/31/2012 Salzburg - walking tour / leave in afternoon to to fussen covering some alpine pass roads
Wed 8/01/2012 Fussen - castles in the morning/noon / leave and drive through klaussen pass, arrive Lucerne
Thu 8/02/2012 Lucerne half day - drive to Lauterbrunnen late afternoon (1 hr drive?)
Fri 8/03/2012 Lauterbrunen until the afternoon, then drive to Strasbourg
Sat 8/04/2012 Strasbourg half day, drive to Reims
Sun 8/05/2012 Reims half day, drive to CDG and drop off car, then to Paris proper.
Mon 8/06/2012 Paris

Some suggestions:
Salzburg to Fussen: Drive the Alpenstrasse all the way. Check out Ramsau Church, Eagle's Nest, Mittenwald, Linderhoff and Wieskirche.
When in Lauterbrunnen go up the Jungfraujoch.
On the way to Strasbourg walk through old town Colmar and Riquewihr. Both worth an hour long detour.

If possible add a few days to your trip.

Originally Posted by Trinitony

Some suggestions:
Salzburg to Fussen: Drive the Alpenstrasse all the way. Check out Ramsau Church, Eagle's Nest, Mittenwald, Linderhoff and Wieskirche.
When in Lauterbrunnen go up the Jungfraujoch.
On the way to Strasbourg walk through old town Colmar and Riquewihr. Both worth an hour long detour.

If possible add a few days to your trip.

Absolutely loved Colmar (a Statue of Liberty is there, birthplace of Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi) and the surrounding vineyards, you might prefer to stay there vs Strasbourg.

Catch the Haut-Koenigsbourg castle between the 2 cities, rivals Neuschwanstein!

Best restraint in Fussion, a little Italian joint. Busy, lots of locals, excellent food.

Originally Posted by zeezz

Sun 8/05/2012 Reims half day, drive to CDG and drop off car, then to Paris proper.
Mon 8/06/2012 Paris
Tue 8/07/2012 Paris
Wed 8/08-8/15 spain (free hotel stays, this is the only non-negotiable portion of the trip :P)

Thinking of dropping Salzburg and just proceeding directly west from Munich; but I've heard a lot of good things about Salzburg and it's relatively close? to Munich...

Also think I just saw a fatal flaw -- don't think the car dropoff is open on Sundays.

Solution on this: Stay in Reims Sunday night and leave in the morning for CDG. Arrive at 9 or 10, and then take the train into the city. All you do is lose a night and a breakfast in Paris. Take a late flight/train to Spain instead of an early one, since you have a week in Spain anyway.

Thanks everyone. Have decided to drop Salzburg due to the music festival/time crunch and will save that for a future ED Adding one more night in Lauterbrunnen as it seems there is definitely a lot to do there.

Also, Colmar sounds great so we will consider that as our hotel stay instead of Strasbourg.

Tanning_Machine, we decided on something similar -- had enough points for a night at Sheraton CDG, so we'll park the car in long term parking on Sunday, visit the city via train, sleep that night at the CDG hotel, then drop the car off in the morning before moving to a hotel in the Vendome area. Kind of a 'waste' of some time on Sunday, but after evaluating all options this is probably the best thing to do that I can see (maximize time with car while minimizing time wasted waiting to drop car off on monday).

Colmar as your stopover is good choice, it is much smaller than Strasbourg & more doable imho. Agree with the earkier CDG dropoff. Why missout on any time in Paris?

Stayed at Maison Martin JUND in Colmar, balcony apartment for E$55 a night, what a gem of a small town experience! Miriam even had a private parking garage with a remote control entry for us.

Easy drives to château du Haut-Koenigsbourg castle, small wine town of Riquier was a highlight. Don't think we saw another American in these cities!

Hi everyone, can't believe I'm just two weeks out!! Providing a quick update on our trip plans for people who might be looking at this in the future. Ideally I wanted to try to make it out to the N-ring and drop something else; however, the schedule just didn't work out. Will have to do that some other time. Added a stay in Versailles per the request of my better half.. need to let her have some input I guess

Updated map: http://tinyurl.com/zeezzed

Sat 7/28/2012 Munich - arrive afternoon from SFO
Sun 7/29/2012 Munich - walk around Munich / bmw museum
Mon 7/30/2012 Munich - car pick up / factory tour / leave to Fussen via schloss Linderhoff (will skip this depending on when we leave the Welt)
Tue 7/31/2012 Fussen - castles in the morning/noon / leave and drive through klaussen pass and furka pass (if we're up to it), arrive Lauterbrunnen
Wed 8/01/2012 Lauterbrunnen - either Jungfrau or Schilthorn
Thu 8/02/2012 Lauterbrunnen - drive to Lucerene in the PM
Fri 8/03/2012 Lucerne until the afternoon, then drive to Colmar/Strasbourg, stay in Strasbourg - decided to keep Strasbourg due to it being farther along the path to Paris and a nice hotel there...
Sat 8/04/2012 Drive to Versailles via Reims (we'll be arriving pretty late, this is a long day)
Sun 8/05/2012 Versaillesduring the day, drive to CDG and park car. Stay at CDG airport hotel this night.
Mon 8/06/2012 Paris - car dropoff in the morning and head into the city.
Tue 8/07/2012 Paris
Wed 8/08/2012 Paris and flight out to Spain at night. Stay until 8/15 in Spain.

Thanks again to everyone for the ideas and input.

Great itinerary. IMHO, Grindelwald is a better option over Lauterbrunnen. The Parkhotel Schoenigg is a fantastic place to stay if you opt for Grindelwald. Lauterbrunnen is a gorgeous valley, with an amazing waterfall view, but the views from Grindelwald are even more impressive. Plus you have easy access to some lifts and trains. Either way, you will be in one of the most spectacular settings in the world.

P.S. I did the Paris drop-off on Monday while staying at the Sheraton CDG. I wouldn't plan on using your cars navigation to find it. My phone (google maps) got me right there.

Originally Posted by zeezz

Sat 8/04/2012 Drive to Versailles via Reims (we'll be arriving pretty late, this is a long day)
Sun 8/05/2012 Versaillesduring the day, drive to CDG and park car. Stay at CDG airport hotel this night.
Mon 8/06/2012 Paris - car dropoff in the morning and head into the city.
Tue 8/07/2012 Paris
Wed 8/08/2012 Paris and flight out to Spain at night. Stay until 8/15 in Spain.

I am sure that you will both enjoy Versailles and I see that you have wisely chosen to be there on a Sunday when the fountains are in operation. I recommend that you do not drive to Versailles. You will be coming into the Paris area more or less from the east (Strasbourg) and Versailles is in the SW quadrant. CDG is in the NE quadrant. To get to Versailles you will have to at least drive around the ring road and will be more or less driving past the drop-off point. Driving in Paris is not fun (and you should see their concept of parking in tight spaces) so I would drop your car on your way into Paris. Head right into the city the same night. The next day take the RER train out to Versailles. The train is relatively cheap and fast and will drop you off about a 5 minute walk from the palace. If you decide you want the thrill of driving in Paris then be sure to do the Full Monte and take a couple of victory laps around the Arc de Triomphe.

Originally Posted by GermanRoots

Great itinerary. IMHO, Grindelwald is a better option over Lauterbrunnen. The Parkhotel Schoenigg is a fantastic place to stay if you opt for Grindelwald. Lauterbrunnen is a gorgeous valley, with an amazing waterfall view, but the views from Grindelwald are even more impressive. Plus you have easy access to some lifts and trains. Either way, you will be in one of the most spectacular settings in the world.

P.S. I did the Paris drop-off on Monday while staying at the Sheraton CDG. I wouldn't plan on using your cars navigation to find it. My phone (google maps) got me right there.

Thanks for the suggestion, will look into that. Glad to see the Paris drop off worked out.

Originally Posted by Trinitony

I am sure that you will both enjoy Versailles and I see that you have wisely chosen to be there on a Sunday when the fountains are in operation. I recommend that you do not drive to Versailles. You will be coming into the Paris area more or less from the east (Strasbourg) and Versailles is in the SW quadrant. CDG is in the NE quadrant. To get to Versailles you will have to at least drive around the ring road and will be more or less driving past the drop-off point. Driving in Paris is not fun (and you should see their concept of parking in tight spaces) so I would drop your car on your way into Paris. Head right into the city the same night. The next day take the RER train out to Versailles. The train is relatively cheap and fast and will drop you off about a 5 minute walk from the palace. If you decide you want the thrill of driving in Paris then be sure to do the Full Monte and take a couple of victory laps around the Arc de Triomphe.

I would LOVE to do this and not risk the traffic/panic of Paris driving... Unfortunately the dropoff is closed on Sundays and Saturdays We will see... victory laps around the Arc in the middle of the night?? wonder how traffic is at 2am...

[QUOTE=zeezz;6948513
I would LOVE to do this and not risk the traffic/panic of Paris driving... Unfortunately the dropoff is closed on Sundays and Saturdays We will see... victory laps around the Arc in the middle of the night?? wonder how traffic is at 2am...[/QUOTE]

Here's one link to the train directions (I followed these a couple years ago):

http://parisbytrain.com/paris-to-cha...lles-by-train/

It's really quite easy and rather pleasant. And you can't miss Versailles once you arrive--everyone on the train is headed there, and at least a few of them know the way (it's marked too).

Another thought - why not stay in Versailles Sunday night as well? Then go to the drop off in the morning (yes, you have to go all the way around Paris) and take the train (or taxi) into Paris from CDG? Then you can have a more relaxed stay in Versailles and avoid an airport hotel.

[QUOTE=zeezz;6777964]Google map: http://g.co/maps/r69gt

Tue 7/31/2012 Fussen - castles in the morning/noon / leave and drive through klaussen pass, arrive Lauterbrunnen


Hi,
Your plan looks great with just one suggestion: On 7/31 Castles in the morning and drive through Klaussen pass to Lauterbrunnen sounds bit of a stretch.Visiting only one castle with mandatory guided tour takes @3-4 hours (note that booking office opens at 8:30 and castle opens at 9:30am) if you are planning both the castles, keep some extra time. Drive through klaussen to Lauterbrunnen will take atleast 5-6 hours. We went from Munich to Gridelwald (15 mins. from Lauterbrunnen) through Klaussen and Susten pass which took @9 hours including kodak moments stops which are plenty. Have a great trip !!!

Originally Posted by zeezz

Hi everyone, can't believe I'm just two weeks out!! Providing a quick update on our trip plans for people who might be looking at this in the future. Ideally I wanted to try to make it out to the N-ring and drop something else; however, the schedule just didn't work out. Will have to do that some other time. Added a stay in Versailles per the request of my better half.. need to let her have some input I guess

Updated map: http://tinyurl.com/zeezzed

Sat 7/28/2012 Munich - arrive afternoon from SFO
Sun 7/29/2012 Munich - walk around Munich / bmw museum
Mon 7/30/2012 Munich - car pick up / factory tour / leave to Fussen via schloss Linderhoff (will skip this depending on when we leave the Welt)
Tue 7/31/2012 Fussen - castles in the morning/noon / leave and drive through klaussen pass and furka pass (if we're up to it), arrive Lauterbrunnen
Wed 8/01/2012 Lauterbrunnen - either Jungfrau or Schilthorn
Thu 8/02/2012 Lauterbrunnen - drive to Lucerene in the PM
Fri 8/03/2012 Lucerne until the afternoon, then drive to Colmar/Strasbourg, stay in Strasbourg - decided to keep Strasbourg due to it being farther along the path to Paris and a nice hotel there...
Sat 8/04/2012 Drive to Versailles via Reims (we'll be arriving pretty late, this is a long day)
Sun 8/05/2012 Versaillesduring the day, drive to CDG and park car. Stay at CDG airport hotel this night.
Mon 8/06/2012 Paris - car dropoff in the morning and head into the city.
Tue 8/07/2012 Paris
Wed 8/08/2012 Paris and flight out to Spain at night. Stay until 8/15 in Spain.

Thanks again to everyone for the ideas and input.

My itinerary was similar to yours except few changes. We had a great time and I am sure you will enjoy these wonderful places too.